The present invention relates generally to wheeled platter carts or tray carrying racks for transporting commodities from one location to another, for example from a storage area or freezer to customer accessible shelving in a grocery store or the like. It is particularly concerned with a platter cart which is nestable with other such carts for reducing storage space requirements when the carts are not in use.
Conventional platter carts are large and have a generally square or rectangular support frame extending upwardly from caster wheels at the lower end of the frame, and a plurality of spaced horizontal shelves secured along the height of the frame. Traditional platter carts are not capable of nesting, and several such carts will take up a considerable amount of storage space when not in use.
Some nestable platter carts have been proposed in the past. U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,035 of Ondrasik describes a platter cart with a plurality of W-shaped support shelves and a tapered base opening rearwardly, such that the base and support shelves of two or more carts can be interfitted to nest together for storage. However, this requires each shelf to be of open configuration apart from the W-shaped support, and can therefore only be used for supporting items on trays or platters which are placed on the shelf. U.S. Pat. No. 3,272,528 of Young et al. describes a platter cart with shelves which may be tilted upwardly to allow the carts to be nested when not in use.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved platter cart which can be nested with other identical carts either for storage when not in use, or for transporting a plurality of a loaded carts simultaneously.
According to the present invention, a platter cart is provided, which comprises an upwardly extending support frame having a base, caster wheels secured at the base, opposite sides extending upwardly from the base, an upper end, a rear end, and a forward end, and a plurality of spaced, generally horizontal shelves secured between the opposite sides of the frame, the shelves comprising a series of spaced forward shelf parts extending forwardly from the sides of the frame and a series of spaced rearward shelf parts extending rearwardly from the sides of the frame, the forward shelf parts being offset at a different height from all of the rearward shelf parts, such that two carts may be nested together by interfitting the forward shelf parts of a rearward cart in the spaces between the rearward shelf parts of a forward cart.
Each pair of adjacent forward and rearward shelf parts may have an integral outer frame with opposite sides which have a tapered or inclined portion forming a connection between the offset horizontal forward and rearward shelf part. Alternatively, completely separate sets of forward and rearward shelves may be provided, which are each secured to the opposite sides of the frame. Each shelf or shelf part may have an outer peripheral frame having opposite sides and a plurality of cross bars extending between the opposite sides of the frame in order to support items or platters or trays supporting items to be stocked on store shelves, such as bakery, meat products, dairy products or the like. The base may be generally U-shaped, with a rear end opening and inwardly tapered sides extending up to the front end of the cart, to allow the base of another cart to be nested in from the rear.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the upwardly extending support frame comprises at least two parallel, vertical support rods extending upwardly from opposite sides of the frame at an intermediate position on the base between the front and rear of the cart. The shelves or shelf parts may be secured to the sides at spaced intervals along the height of the frame. The vertical support rods may be secured together at their upper ends. In the exemplary embodiment, the vertical support rods are located approximately at the center of the frame, and there may be two sets of parallel support rods for added support. The shelves or shelf parts are each secured to the support rods and are otherwise free and unsupported at their front and rear ends, with open spaces or gaps between the shelves, such that carts can be readily nested together with the front shelves or shelf parts of the rearmost cart interleaved with the rear shelf portions or parts of the front cart. It will be understood that a similar nesting arrangement may be provided with front shelf portions which are raised above the height of the rear shelf portions or parts.
The platter cart of this invention is of simple construction and provides a significant amount of shelf space for carrying items separately or on trays or platters, while still permitting two or more carts to be readily nested together when not in use, conserving space. Because of the offset between the shelves when the carts are nested, they can be nested together while the shelves are loaded with product. This allows one individual to transport a member of loaded carts simultaneously.